Professional Brewer and avid home brewer

[CCBsean]

Hey guys,
finally decided to sign up to this amazing site that has helped me get to where I am today.
If anyone is thinking about going pro and has any questions feel free to ask me anything as I'm sure I'll be annoying a lot of you

Cheers and happy brewing!

Sean Piel
Head Brewer
Cold Creek Brewery

 

[Homercidal]

Welcome, Sean! I'm sure there are plenty of members who are curious to know what all goes into starting a brewery. I'm sure you have some insight into the differences between a professional brewery and most homebrew setups as well.



-Homer

 

[sudbuddy]

Welcome Sean! I know I will have lots of questions for you in the next few months leading up to when I start the Siebel program

 

[CCBsean]

Absolutely, looking forward to chatting with you guys and answering as many questions as I can [emoji482]

 

[Dixon9717]

Welcome and thanks. Your knowledge and experience will be another great source for learning to do better what we love to do.

 

[medicmike63]

Checked out your website and FB page. Nice operation!

 

[Doctor_M]

You still homebrew!?!! You are an animal!!! Ever since I went pro the last thing I want to do is homebrew when I have free time... then again I currently run our pilot program and essentially I am still homebrewing (at least batch size) eight 1/2 bbl batches a week. Regardless welcome to the site!

Cheers,

Bryan
Assistant Brewer
Adroit Theory Brewing Company

 

[Billy-Klubb]

Hey guys,
I'm sure I'll be annoying a lot of you

Cheers and happy brewing!

Sean Piel
Head Brewer
Cold Creek Brewery

I hope you like competition.ipe:

 

[Sammy86]

Welcome Sean! I'll have to make a trip up to the brewery sometime soon!

 

[Kirky5000]

Although I've only been in the pros for about 6 months, I still enjoy going home and reading all the creative ideas these talented Mo Fo's on HBT come up with. Giving me inspiration to work on hopefully a better Idea or combination of ingredients than I had the day before.

My Brewmaster started as a homebrewer just like all of us, and now is my personal encyclopedia of German old world techniques, info, and procedures.

I used to teach a free homebrew class every Saturday for 2 years, about 5 years ago. Never lost my brewing passion, and one day, the sales and marketing manager for Goliad Brewing Company worked an event at the bar I was working at, and Now I'm here living the dream.

Let me just say folks, I know you've heard it a 1000 times but holy crap is it true. THIS IS NOT AN EASY JOB!

And I always want to learn more, read more on my craft so I may be a better co pilot for my mentor. If not too much trouble, and you had any go to recommendations of literature or info you advise your beer babies to read, I would love to hear about it.

I have been a HBT on-looker for over 5 years, but only signed up recently. One thing I've learned since my call to big leagues, there are plenty of pros here that wear the home brewer title like a badge of honor. I'm proud to be one of them, sounds like you are too.
Welcome,
Kirk Fincher
Goliad Brewing Company

 

[Groliveira]

Hi. I'm brazilian homebrewer; also, PhD Student.

I'd like to ask you all: what os it to be a masterbrewer?

 

[unionrdr]

It's always good to have another home brewing pro around here. We have folks from all walks of life here, enjoying & sharing the same passion. I was a hotrodder, programing student, auto worker,sportsman,winemaker & family man. And I wound up here! We are not alone...

 

[JoshuaW]

Although I've only been in the pros for about 6 months, I still enjoy going home and reading all the creative ideas these talented Mo Fo's on HBT come up with. Giving me inspiration to work on hopefully a better Idea or combination of ingredients than I had the day before.

My Brewmaster started as a homebrewer just like all of us, and now is my personal encyclopedia of German old world techniques, info, and procedures.

I used to teach a free homebrew class every Saturday for 2 years, about 5 years ago. Never lost my brewing passion, and one day, the sales and marketing manager for Goliad Brewing Company worked an event at the bar I was working at, and Now I'm here living the dream.

Let me just say folks, I know you've heard it a 1000 times but holy crap is it true. THIS IS NOT AN EASY JOB!

And I always want to learn more, read more on my craft so I may be a better co pilot for my mentor. If not too much trouble, and you had any go to recommendations of literature or info you advise your beer babies to read, I would love to hear about it.

I have been a HBT on-looker for over 5 years, but only signed up recently. One thing I've learned since my call to big leagues, there are plenty of pros here that wear the home brewer title like a badge of honor. I'm proud to be one of them, sounds like you are too.
Welcome,
Kirk Fincher
Goliad Brewing Company

Did you guys really do 2,000 BBL in year one? That is impressive!

 

[Kirky5000]

Did you guys really do 2,000 BBL in year one? That is impressive!

I'll ask tomorrow whenever I get to work on the exact number. I've been at Goliad Brewing Company for a little over 4 months, and we've produced around a 1,000 BBLS in that time, maybe a little more. Our brews are 30 BBLS with(8) 60 BBL fermentation vessels.

I do you know before brewing a drop, over $3,000,000 was spent on the initial build. The owners were hoping for 12,000 BBLS in year 1, besides producing that amount of product, For a new brewery in Texas the problem is not just selling that amount to bars and stores but setting up the distributing and their contracts. That's the story nationwide I believe, but Texas only allows the sale of beer to be consumed on the premises ONLY

(that law just changed 3 years ago, before no sale of product at production site was allowed unless it's a distributing company for transport)


I'm very lucky to have the brand new / expensive equipment to learn on and such a great teacher to guide me. He was taught the old world German way from his brew master at Rocky mountain Brewery. Who was one of the consultant's who set up Dr. Charlie Bamford's brewing science department at UCDavis. He knows his stuff, and I ask TONS of questions so it's great. I keep hearing brewers don't make a ton of money but doing something your passionate about daily sounds pretty rich to me. It's all what you want out of life, to be miserable and loaded or to be excited about you day to day work with less pay, folks I took the later.
ipe:

 

[unionrdr]

But for a retiree like me, a perfect way to make the extra money we always seem to need to have a decent retirement. It'd be like, spending 30 years making a good living. Then doing something you really enjoy for the remaining years.

 

[JoshuaW]

I'll ask tomorrow whenever I get to work on the exact number. I've been at Goliad Brewing Company for a little over 4 months, and we've produced around a 1,000 BBLS in that time, maybe a little more. Our brews are 30 BBLS with(8) 60 BBL fermentation vessels.

I do you know before brewing a drop, over $3,000,000 was spent on the initial build. The owners were hoping for 12,000 BBLS in year 1, besides producing that amount of product, For a new brewery in Texas the problem is not just selling that amount to bars and stores but setting up the distributing and their contracts. That's the story nationwide I believe, but Texas only allows the sale of beer to be consumed on the premises ONLY

(that law just changed 3 years ago, before no sale of product at production site was allowed unless it's a distributing company for transport)


I'm very lucky to have the brand new / expensive equipment to learn on and such a great teacher to guide me. He was taught the old world German way from his brew master at Rocky mountain Brewery. Who was one of the consultant's who set up Dr. Charlie Bamford's brewing science department at UCDavis. He knows his stuff, and I ask TONS of questions so it's great. I keep hearing brewers don't make a ton of money but doing something your passionate about daily sounds pretty rich to me. It's all what you want out of life, to be miserable and loaded or to be excited about you day to day work with less pay, folks I took the later.
ipe:

I pulled the numbers from Brewers Association 2014 survey.

I know its scary expensive. My project is looking like it will be $1.5M, and that is with a 15bbl system and fewer fermenters.

Unfortunately I have only seen a few outliers who have managed to do something like 12k barrels in their first year, but it is certainly possible within a couple of years. More power to you guys, it sounds like you guys are off to a great start! I hope I start off that strong!

 

[Geronimo13]

I pulled the numbers from Brewers Association 2014 survey.

I know its scary expensive. My project is looking like it will be $1.5M, and that is with a 15bbl system and fewer fermenters.

Unfortunately I have only seen a few outliers who have managed to do something like 12k barrels in their first year, but it is certainly possible within a couple of years. More power to you guys, it sounds like you guys are off to a great start! I hope I start off that strong!

How much of your $1.5 investment is building related if any?

 

[JoshuaW]

How much of your $1.5 investment is building related if any?

About $700k on the building and modifications. I figure even if I didnt buy the building, I would probably be stuck doing close to $100k (or more, depending on the space) in modifications anyways.

No doubt people have done it cheaper, and people have done it more expensive. You just have to figure out what will work best for your plan.

 

[Kirky5000]

I pulled the numbers from Brewers Association 2014 survey.

I know its scary expensive. My project is looking like it will be $1.5M, and that is with a 15bbl system and fewer fermenters.

Unfortunately I have only seen a few outliers who have managed to do something like 12k barrels in their first year, but it is certainly possible within a couple of years. More power to you guys, it sounds like you guys are off to a great start! I hope I start off that strong!

Thank you very much, I love being apart of stefan's team, couldn't have asked for a better situation.
I'm sure your going to kick some ass, especially with as much thought your already putting into your beer heaven. Plus you have the 2 main ingredients, a love for what your doing, and that $1.5 million buget.
It's going to be a beer-topia.
TM kirky5000:rockin:
So do you already have the land? around when do you plan on getting the actual construction going? It's exciting to think you'll be apart of the birth of what was only a wishful thought in the past.

And Mr. Unionrdr, you're in a great spot as well, I personally want to spend the best years of my life doing what I love and not wondering if I'm putting away enough money throughout the years so I can finally truly be happy. I was a (off and on) touring musician for almost 10 years of my life and I made NOTHING money wise hahaha, but those were by far my favorite times of my life. The journey meant everything to all of us, money was an after thought at best. I'll leave you with this....
Success is getting what you want
Happiness is wanting what you get
dale carnegie

 

[Kirky5000]

But for a retiree like me, a perfect way to make the extra money we always seem to need to have a decent retirement. It'd be like, spending 30 years making a good living. Then doing something you really enjoy for the remaining years.

I love the creativity you put into a home brew book. Gonna make my brother get it for me for christmas. Hope it's a huge success for you.

 

[unionrdr]

I love the creativity you put into a home brew book. Gonna make my brother get it for me for christmas. Hope it's a huge success for you.

I made some money off it, but not much. The business end of self-publishing is tough. AHA turned down the book, saying I brought nothing new to the table. But I do enjoy writing about brewing, sci fi, etc. All kinds of info on beer & brewing for the last 10,000 years, besides recipes & my own experiences put a lot of info in one place. I thought they were pretty good, but I digress. Brewing for a living with that kind of money to spend should make for success. If you can do, definitely go for it!

 

[JoshuaW]

Thank you very much, I love being apart of stefan's team, couldn't have asked for a better situation.
I'm sure your going to kick some ass, especially with as much thought your already putting into your beer heaven. Plus you have the 2 main ingredients, a love for what your doing, and that $1.5 million buget.
It's going to be a beer-topia.
TM kirky5000:rockin:
So do you already have the land? around when do you plan on getting the actual construction going? It's exciting to think you'll be apart of the birth of what was only a wishful thought in the past.

And Mr. Unionrdr, you're in a great spot as well, I personally want to spend the best years of my life doing what I love and not wondering if I'm putting away enough money throughout the years so I can finally truly be happy. I was a (off and on) touring musician for almost 10 years of my life and I made NOTHING money wise hahaha, but those were by far my favorite times of my life. The journey meant everything to all of us, money was an after thought at best. I'll leave you with this....
Success is getting what you want
Happiness is wanting what you get
dale carnegie

My project is a work in process. A million and a half doesn't appear out of thin air, so I have been working with those who have expressed interest in investing in me to ensure we have a solid plan. The past couple of months have been spent with consultants and lawyers. I'm currently trying to get the trademark on my name so that I can proceed or change my name. That has been frustrating because a winery has a similar name, so USPTO has been fighting us on it.